TROY -- Many famous and accomplished people bring glory to the community in which they were raised. But too often, once they've gained fame and fortune they lose touch with their hometown.

That was not the case with Maureen Stapleton, the famous actress who was one of only a handful of people to win the Triple Crown of Acting -- two Tony Awards for theater, an Oscar for film acting and an Emmy for her television performances.

Stapleton not only returned to visit her hometown of Troy, she lived in the city and retired nearby.

She loved Troy, and on Friday, Troy will return the love.

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The Rensselaer County Historical Society is honoring Stapleton's career and devotion to Troy with an exhibit that opens Friday and continues through July 27. Appropriately, it is titled "Troy is My Hometown: The Life and Times of Maureen Stapleton."

To kick off the opening of the exhibit, there will be a salute to the woman and her career Friday night at Bush Memorial Hall on the campus of Russell Sage College. Organized by David Baecker, an associate professor of theater at Sage, the night will feature short video clips showing Stapleton discussing her career and life.

Complementing the video, Sage students will deliver monologues of passages that Stapleton made famous. To assure authenticity, Jane Scovill, Stapleton's biographer, will be in attendance and speak to the audience. The event will be hosted by WNYT news anchor Benita Zahn.

Baecker said the tribute was organized with the same goal as the exhibit.

"It's not strictly a salute to Stapleton's career," he said. "The intent is to reveal the woman and show her relationship to Troy and how that shaped her entire life."

Ilene Frank, executive director of the Rensselaer County Historical Society, said the exhibit focuses as much on the environment that shaped Stapleton as it does on the details of her formidable career.

"This is the result of a grassroots movement to honor a local hero. We want people to learn about her as a person and to show how Troy influenced her life and career," Frank said.

The exhibit is divided into three parts.

"Setting the Stage: Troy in the 1920s-40s" focuses on the entertainment venues in Troy that introduced Stapleton to the world of entertainment.

The second part is "Maureen Stapleton's career in Theater, Film and Television." Adding to the luster of her career will be her Oscar for "Reds," the Emmy she won for "Among the Paths of Eden" and a Golden Globe for her work in "Airport." There will also be playbills, scripts and assorted memorabilia from her work.

The final part of the exhibit is "A Hell of a Life: Maureen's Legacy," which is perhaps the meat of the exhibit. According to Frank, this section shows Stapleton as a person. It uses local memorabilia to portray the actress as a person who was accepted as a neighbor as well as a famous actress.

One item lent to the exhibit is a dress Stapleton donated as a raffle item to LaSalle High School. Frank said she loves the note that was given to the woman who won the cream-colored dress. It states, "I was going to be buried in this dress. Now you can be."

"Only a regular person could have written that," Frank said.

Baecker said he is "in awe" of Stapleton's talent as an actress.

"She had the unqualified respect of producers, directors and fellow actors. Tennessee Williams wrote two plays specifically for her."

However, Baecker said he is more impressed by the respect she had from her peers.

"She wouldn't fly or even use an elevator. But people worked around it. They let her take a train to the West Coast and travel overseas by boat. She was so good that the biggest of the big would wait for her and alter a schedule so she could be in the project. That's the sign of a great talent. Our goal is to capture a sense of that greatness and her down-to-earth love of Troy."